Homeric κνίση

ICAGL Madrid 2022

Stefan Höfler (Vienna)
hoefler.ling@gmail.com

§1 The meaning of κνίση

• epic and poetic word, appears 17 × in Il., Od., h.Ap.
• unepic variant κνῖσα used by Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Aristotle, & late and Hellenistic authors
• on the relationship between κνίση and κνῖσα see Solmsen 1909: 238–9 (viz., κνίση >> κνῖσα)
• surprising thing about κνίση is its twofold meaning
• in ca. half of the Homeric & most of post-Homeric attestations, the word refers to
o ‘the smell or savor of a burnt sacrifice’
o ‘the steam and odor of fat that exhales from roasting meat’
o ‘the odor of savory meat in general’

(1) ἕρδον δ᾿ Ἀπόλλωνι τεληέσσας ἑκατόμβας

ταύρων ἠδ᾿ αἰγῶν παρὰ θῖν᾿ ἁλὸς ἀτρυγέτοιο·
κνίση δ᾿ οὐρανὸν ἷκεν ἑλισσομένη περὶ καπνῷ. (Il. 1.315–7)
‘And they offered to Apollo perfect hecatombs
of bulls and goats by the shore of the unresting sea;
and the savor of it went up to heaven, eddying amid the smoke.’
Picture 1: Attic vase, ca. 420 BCE (detail).
• derivatives and verbs based on this meaning:
o πολύ-κνισος ‘steaming (with savor)’ (A. R.), κνισήεις (κ 10, Pi.), κνισωτός
(A. Ch. 485), κνισηρός (Achae. 7), κνισαλέος (H.) ‘full of the steam of burnt sacrifice’, κνισώδης ‘steaming like roast
meat’ (Arist.)
o κνισάω ‘fill with the savour of burnt sacrifice’ (E., Ar. etc.), κνισόομαι, -όω ‘turn into fatty smoke’ (Arist., Ph. etc.)

• in roughly the other half of Homeric attestations and the odd post-Homeric instance, κνίση has a quite
different meaning
o ‘caul fat (also known as lace fat or fat netting)’
o = the thin membrane that surrounds the internal organs of cows, sheep, and pigs
o (by extension) ‘animal fat in general’
• this caul fat was used to wrap the sacrificial bones before they were burnt
o cf. the etiological narrative in Hes. Th. 535–57 on the origin of this practice

(2) μηρούς τ᾿ ἐξέταμον κατά τε κνίσῃ ἐκάλυψαν

δίπτυχα ποιήσαντες, ἐπ᾿ αὐτῶν δ᾿ ὠμοθέτησαν. (Od. 12.360–1)
‘They cut out the thigh bones and covered them with
a double layer of fat and laid the raw bits upon them.’

• derivatives and verbs based on the meaning ‘animal fat’: Picture 2: Attic vase, ca. 520–510 BCE (detail).
o κνισώδης ‘fatty’ (Arist.)
• The key to the understanding of this double meaning is that this caul fat was largely responsible for the
steam and odor of the burnt offering as the fat would melt in the blistering heat and trickle down into
the fire in sizzling drops.
• Thus, κνίση is the word for both the savor of the smoldering sacrifice and for that, which causes it.
• This semantic dichotomy is not only quite astonishing; it also calls for an explanation.
• No literature on this.

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§2 Possible Explanations

§2.1 Metonymy
• Metonymy is “a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is referred to by the name of something
closely associated with that thing or concept”1
o the Crown to refer to a monarch
o the White House to refer to the Administration of the United States
• in cognitive linguistics, several types of metonymies are distinguished
• replacing CAUSE by EFFECT, or — to a lesser extent —EFFECT by CAUSE is not uncommon.
o Cf. Littlemore 2017: 411.
o CAUSE (‘caul fat’) and EFFECT (‘steam, smell, savor of the burnt sacrifice’)
EFFECT FOR CAUSE:
• Cf. Quint. 8.6.27: Illud quoque et poetis et oratoribus frequens, quo id quod efficit ex eo quod efficitur
ostendimus.
‘Another type [of metonymy] common both in poets and in orators is that by which we indicate cause
by effect.’
o She is my joy.
‘She makes me feel happy.’ (Radden & Kövecses 1999: 93)
o Lat. vulnera derigere (Verg. Aen. 10.140)
‘to aim wounds (i.e., missiles that inflict wounds)’
o SVSPIRIVM / PVUELLARVM / CELADVS TR(AX) (CIL 4.4397, Pompeii)
‘The sigh of girls: Celadus, the Thracian.’
• mostly contextual and situational, sometimes conventional
o dictionaries don’t cite ‘person that brings joy’ as a meaning of joy, or ‘missile that inflicts wounds’
as a meaning of vulnus, etc.
• sometimes metonymical usage becomes successful enough to lead to a separate dictionary entry
o Gk. μῖσος n. ‘hate, hatred’ → ‘hateful object (i.e., person that causes hate)’ (cf. LSJ s.v. μῖσος mean.
II)
§ ὦ μῖσος, ὦ μέγιστον ἐχθίστη γύναι / θεοῖς τε κἀμοὶ παντί τ᾿ ἀνθρώπων γένει (E. Med. 1323)
‘O detestable creature, utterly hateful to the gods, to me, and to the whole human race’
CAUSE FOR EFFECT:
• less common
o General Motors had to stop production. (Hilpert 2010)
cause (obligation to act) → effect (action)
o Ved. sóma- ‘soma plant, soma juice’ → “thoughts that appear under the influence of the juice”
(Jurewicz 2019: 65)
• also mostly contextual/situational
o Gk. τράγος m. ‘he-goat’ and ‘smell of a goat’ (?) (thus Frisk s.v.)
§ Οὐ μόνον αὐτὴ πνεῖ Δημοστρατίς, ἀλλὰ δὴ αὐτῆς
τοὺς ὀσμησαμένους πνεῖν πεποίηκε τράγου. (AP 11.240 Lucillius)
‘Demostratis not only breathes herself the stink of a he-goat,
but makes those who smell her breathe the same.’
§ cf. also Lat. caper m. ‘he-goat’ and ‘goatish smell’ (Cat., Ov.)
o But πνεῖν + gen. = ‘smell of X’ (οὐ μύρου πνέον ‘did not smell of myrrh’ S. Fr. 565)

• The predominance of EFFECT FOR CAUSE over CAUSE FOR EFFECT could mean that
o κνίση originally ‘steam, savor’ (EFFECT) and was then used metonymically for ‘caul fat’ (CAUSE)
• This scenario is also etymologically (see below) more plausible than the reverse direction
• the only caveat being that both EFFECT FOR CAUSE (and/or CAUSE FOR EFFECT) very rarely lead to two well-
established separate meanings of a word

1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metonymy (May 5, 2022).

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 • Without context:
o joy ≠ ‘person that brings joy’
o suspīrium ≠ ‘person that causes sighs’
o τράγος ≠ ‘smell of a goat’
• In this light, a successful metonymy à la κνίση ‘steam, savor’ (EFFECT) → ‘caul fat’ (CAUSE) would be even
more outstanding
• Alternative explanation?

§2.2 Two different lexemes

• when a word has two very different meanings, we might very well be dealing with two homophonous
words
o e.g., Att.-Ion. μῆλον₁ ‘sheep, goat’ (< *mēl̃ on; cf. OIr. míl) and μῆλον₂ ‘apple’ (< *mā̃lon; cf. Dor.,
Aeol. μᾶλον)
• but assuming two etymologically unrelated κνίση’s is not very plausible given the real-life connection
between κνίση ‘caul fat’ and κνίση ‘savor’
• a less dogmatic view could see κνίση ‘caul fat’ and κνίση ‘savor’ as etymologically related, but as eventually
continuing two different (but formally identical) formations
• or one formation that had two different meanings right from the beginning (and whose derivational
background would have to be elucidated; to be specified below)
o compare a similar case: μύξα f. ‘discharge from the nose’ and ‘nostril’

§3 Etymology of κνίση
• analysis as *knīd-s-ā (cf. Solmsen 1909: 238; Frisk I: 885) is very attractive because of the quasi-synonym
Lat. nīdor, -ōris m. ‘vapor, steam, smell, from anything boiled, roasted, burned’ (Lucr.+) < *knīdōs, -ōses
(masc. s-stem)
• traditionally ascribed to root *knei̯d- ‘scratch, poke’ (LIV²: 366) of Gk. κνίζω ‘scratch, tickle, tease’ (*knid-
i̯e/o-) and ON hníta ‘poke’ (*knei̯d-e/o-).
• for the conceptual metaphor SCRATCH, STING > SMELL compare Goth. stigqan ‘to clash’ : E. stink, G. stinken
‘smell (bad)’, *h₃ed- ‘bite’ > ‘smell’ (acc. to van Beek 2011: 51–2), or a penetrating/biting/sharp smell, stench.
o this leaves the ī in κνίση unexplained (NB: Lat. nīdor could be *knéi̯dōs)
o another ī in κνῑδ́ η f. ‘stinging nettle’ (which fits nicely to a root ‘scratch, itch’)
• Proposal: the root is *knihₓd- ‘scratch, sting, poke’ instead
o κνῑδ́ η < *kníhₓdeh₂-, κνίση < *kníhₓdseh₂-, Lat. nīdor < *kníhₓdōs
o ON hníta < *knihₓd-e/o-
o Gk. κνίζω <*knid-i̯e/o- < *knihₓd-i̯é/ó- (loss of the laryngeal by the Weather rule; cf. Neri 2017)
• Morphology of κνίση < *kníhₓdseh₂-:
o basis is a neut. s-stem *kníhₓd-os (or a masc. s-stem *kníhₓd-ōs = Lat. nīdor) ‘scratching’ > ‘strong
smell, steam’
o possessive adjective (*-ó-): *kníhₓd-os ‘smell, steam’ → *knihₓd-s-ó- ‘having smell, steam’
• parallel to:
o *k̑éu̯ h₁-os ‘strength’ (Ved. śávas- n.) → *k̑uh₁-s-ó- ‘having strength’ (Ved. śūṣá- ‘strong’)
o *k̑eh₂d-os ‘strong negative emotion’ (Gk. κῆδος n. ‘care, anxiety, grief’, W. cawdd ‘anger’) → *k̑h₂d-
s-ó- ‘having a strong negative emotion’ (W. cas ‘hateful, hated, nasty’)
o *u̯ léi̯kʷ-os ‘moisture, liquid’ (cf. Lat. liquor m. ‘a liquid’) → *u̯ likʷ-s-ó- ‘having moisture’ (Welsh
gwlych ‘wet’)
o *méu̯ k-os ‘slime’ (cf. Lat. mūcor m. ‘mold’) → *muk-s-ó- ‘having slime’ (cf. Gk. μύξος ‘gray mullet’)
• This *knihₓd-s-ó- ‘having smell, steam’ might be attested in Gk. κνῑσός:

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 (3) ὁ δὲ ἐσχαρίτης καὶ ἀπὸ τηγάνου διὰ τὴν τοῦ ἐλαίου ἐπίμιξιν εὐεκκριτώτερος, διὰ δὲ τὸ κνισὸν
κακοστομαχώτερος.
‘Brazier bread and bread made in a frying-pan are easier to excrete, because oil has been mixed into them,
but are harder on the stomach because of their [κνῑσόν / being κνῑσός].’2 (Ath. 3.115e)

• Traditionally seen as a retrograde formation based on κνίση (cf. Frisk s.v.) and translated as ‘greasy’
(‘greasiness’ transl. Loeb; ‘fat’ [“gras”] Bailly 2020 s.v.), ‘smelly’ (‘smell’; transl. Henry G. Bohn), ‘full of the
steam of burnt sacrifice’ (= κνισήεις; LSJ s.v. κνῑσός).
o ‘greasy’ does not really make sense since κνίση only rarely (and only in Hom.) means ‘fat (in
general)’ and since there would be a slight contradiction between διὰ τὴν τοῦ ἐλαίου ἐπίμιξιν
εὐεκκριτώτερος ‘easier to excrete, because oil has been mixed into them’ and διὰ δὲ τὸ κνισὸν
κακοστομαχώτερος ‘harder on the stomach because of their greasiness’
o κνίση ‘savor’ is generally considered something positive
• Here and also in a couple of other passages, derivatives from a base κνῑσ- seem to refer to the negative and
unwanted quality of olive oil that has been overheated
o cloudy olive oil has a very low smoke point, and the smoke is not very pleasant; the oil might
also turn bitter
o κνισός ‘burnt, bitter (?)’ (Ath. 3.115e)
o κνισώδης ‘burnt, bitter (?) (of oil)’ (Gal., etc.)
o κνισόομαι ‘become burnt, bitter (?) (of oil after boiling)’ (Orib.)
• perhaps independent adjective κνῑσός ‘having an unwanted, pungent smell/taste’ or a neuter κνῑσόν
‘unwanted pungent smell/taste’
o *kníhₓd-os ‘smell, steam’ → *knihₓd-s-ó- ‘having a noteworthy smell’ > κνῑσός / κνῑσόν
• Incidentally, Mod. Icel. hniss n. ‘pungent smell, taste’ < *knihₓdsó- (with Dybo’s law?) might reflect
precisely the same formation (but *knihₓd-tó- with Dybo’s law is possible, too).
• Cf. also κνισον Sim. fr. 30 (Campbell), though without helpful context.

§4 Substantivization
• Whether or not κνῑσόν points directly to *knihₓd-s-ó- ‘having smell, steam’, the latter is needed to formally
account for κνίση < *kníhₓdseh₂-, viz., as a *-h₂-substantivization of the adjective.
• as expected (cf. Höfler 2020), the resulting -eh₂- stem shows recessive accentuation
o Gk. λαπαρός ‘slack, loose’ → Ion. λαπάρη f. ‘the soft part of the body; flank’
o Gk. ἐχϑρός ‘hostile’ → ἔχϑρᾱ, Ion. ἔχϑρη f. ‘hatred’
o *h₂enkuló- ‘curved’ (Gk. ἀγκύλος ‘id.’ with Wheeler’s Law) → *h₂énkuleh₂- ‘curved thing’ (Gk.
ἀγκύλη f. ‘bend of the arm; thong of a javelin’, OIcel. ól f. ‘thong’, OE ōl(-þwang) ‘id.’)
• In terms of semantics, κνίση ‘steam, savor’ is easily explained as a delibative (cf. Nussbaum 2014), i.e., one
instance of an otherwise uncountable mass noun (thus, delibative is the opposite of collective)
• delibatives are found as substantivizations of possessive adjectives derived from uncountable mass nouns
o Lat. strāmen ‘straw’ → strāmentum n. ‘bundle of straw’ (via a poss. adj. in *-to-)
o Gk. κόνις ‘dust’ → κόνιος ‘dusty’ → κονία f. ‘(cloud of) dust; pl. ashes’
o *méu̯ k-os ‘slime’ (cf. Lat. mūcor m. ‘mold’) → *muk-s-ó- ‘having slime’ (cf. Gk. μύξος ‘gray mullet’)
→ *múkseh₂- ‘one instance of slime’ > (*μύξη >>) μύξα f. ‘discharge from the nose’ (Solmsen 1909:
238–9)
o *u̯ léi̯kʷ-os ‘moisture, liquid’ (cf. Lat. liquor m. ‘a liquid’) → *u̯ likʷ-s-ó- ‘having moisture’ (W. gwlych
‘wet’) → *u̯ líkʷseh₂- ‘one instance of a liquid’ > Lat. lixa, -ae f. ‘lye’
o *kníhₓd-os ‘strong smell’ (cf. Lat. nīdor) → *knihₓd-s-ó- ‘having strong smell’ (?κνῑσός) →
*kníhₓdseh₂- ‘one instance of strong smell’ > κνίση f. ‘steam, savor (of a burnt sacrifice)’
• But creating delibatives is not the only function of substantivizations of denominal adjectives

2
Athenaeus. The Learned Banqueters, Volume II: Books 3.106e-5. Edited and translated by S. Douglas Olson. Loeb Classical Library 208. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 2007.

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 • Another possible function is to name persons or things that are what the adjective denotes (i.e., concrete
individualizations)
o Gk. λαπαρός ‘slack, loose’ → Ion. λαπάρη f. ‘the soft part of the body; flank’ Il.+
o *h2enkuló- ‘curved’ (Gk. ἀγκύλος) → *h2énkuleh2- ‘curved thing’ (Gk. ἀγκύλη, OIcel. ól, OE ōl(-
þwang))
• This also explains the two quite different meanings of μύξα:
o μύξα f. ‘discharge from the nose’, as above qua delibative *múkseh₂- ‘one instance of slime’
o μύξα f. ‘nostril’ as *múkseh₂- ‘thing connected to slime; the slimy one’ (cf. Solmsen 1909: 238–9)
• And it might explain the double meaning of κνίση:
o κνίση f. ‘steam, savor (of a burnt sacrifice)’, as above qua delibative ‘one instance of strong smell’
o κνίση f. ‘caul fat’ as ‘thing connected to strong smell; ?the smelly one’
• But of course, again we face the issue that caul fat itself is not smelly, it only causes the smell, steam when
burnt.

§5 The causative reading of possessive adjectives

• The meaning κνίση f. ‘caul fat’ presupposes a causative meaning ‘causing strong smell’ rather than ‘having
strong smell’ for the possessive adjective *knihₓd-s-ó-
• causative meaning (or: reading) ‘causing X’ of possessive denominal adjectives is not without parallels:
o δακρυόεις not only ‘full of tears, weeping’ (δακρυόεσσα … κούρη Il. 21.506) but also ‘causing tears’
(πόλεμον … δακρυόεντα Il. 5.737) (cf. δάκρυ ‘tear’)
o γελαστός ‘laughable’ (viz. ἔργα ‘deeds’ Od.) < ‘causing laughter’ (cf. *γέλας ‘laughter’)
o ἱδρώεις ‘causing sweat’ (viz. πόνος ‘labor’ B.12.57) (cf. ἱδρώς ‘sweat’)
• causative reading can also be seen in adjectives of the same derivational structure as our alleged *knihₓd-
s-ó-
o W. cas ‘hateful, hated, nasty’ < *k̑h₂d-s-ó- ‘causing a strong negative emotion’ (cf. *k̑éh₂d-os > W.
cawdd ‘anger’)
o Lat. alsus ‘cool, refreshing’ (Cic.) < *h₂l ̥gʰ-s-ó- ‘causing chill’ (cf. *h₂élgʰ-ōs > Lat. algor, -ōris m.
‘cold, chilliness’, Mod. Icel. elgur m. ‘slush’)
• sometimes only visible in substantivizations:
o *h₁réu̯ dʰ-os n. ‘redness’ (Gk. ἔρευθος) → *h₁rudʰ-s-ó- ‘having redness’ (Lat. russus ‘red’) and
‘causing redness’ > ‘dying red’, subst. as OIr. ruis ‘elder tree’ (a tree with green leaves, white
flowers, and black berries; the latter are used in cloth dying and produce a dark red color)
• there is a good chance that the possibility for polysemy is quasi-universal, i.e., in languages that have a
denominal derivational process that creates adjectives with a possessive meaning
o Gk. ἄλγος n. ‘pain, grief’ → ἀλγεινός (a) ‘feeling pain, suffering’ (b) ‘painful, grievous’
o Gk. δακρυόεις (a) ‘full of tears, weeping’ (δακρυόεσσα … κούρη Il. 21.506) and (v) ‘causing tears’
o Lat. luctus, -ūs m. ‘sorrow’ → luctuōsus (a) ‘feeling sorrow’ (b) ‘causing sorrow’
o Lat. lacrima f. ‘tear’ → lacrimōsus (a) ‘full of tears, weeping (of persons); exuding (of plants)’ (b)
‘lamentable (of things)’
o Spanish lagrimoso in both meanings
o E. tearful (a) ‘flowing with/accompanied by tears (e.g., entreaties)’ (b) ‘causing tears (e.g., a
eulogy)’
• including bahuvrihi compounds
o Ved. an-aśrú- ‘having no tears (áśru-)’ as (a) ‘not weeping (of a woman)’ and (b) ‘causing no
tears’
• quite possible that we have to imagine that possessive denominal adjectives can—in principle and
depending on the meaning of the base word—have a variety of possible readings (including possessive,
causative, etc.), and that context decides which reading fits best

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§6 Conclusion
• The two meanings of κνίση f. ‘steam, savor (of a burnt sacrifice)’ and ‘caul fat’ are explainable starting
from an s-stem *kníhₓd-os n. or *kníhₓd-ōs m. ‘scratching, itching’ > ‘an intense smell’ (Lat. nīdor, -ōris m.
‘vapor, steam, smell, fume (from something burned)’)
o possessive adjective *knihₓd-s-ó- ‘having an intense smell’ (perhaps preserved in Gk. κνῑσός)
o substantivization qua delibative ‘one instance of intense smell’ → κνίση f. ‘steam, savor (of a
burnt sacrifice)’
o a different substantivization based on the causative reading of *knihₓd-s-ó-, viz. ‘causing an
intense smell’ → κνίση f. ‘caul fat’

§7 References

van Beek, Lucien. 2011. ‘Vowel Assimilation in Greek: the Evidence Reconsidered’, in: Indogermanistik und
Linguistik im Dialog, Akten der XIII. Fachtagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft vom 21. bis 27.
September 2008 in Salzburg, hg. von Th. Krisch und Th. Lindner, Wiesbaden: Reichert, 49-58.
Frisk, Hjalmar. 1960-1972. Griechisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2 vols. Heidelberg: Winter.
Hilpert, Martin. 2010. ‘Chained Metonymies.’ In J. Newman and S.A. Rice (eds.), Experimental and Empirical
Methods in Cognitive Functional Research. Stanford: CSLI, 181-194.
Höfler, Stefan. 2020. ‘Substantivization of Adjectives.’ Indo-European Linguistics 8, 181–204.
Jurewicz, Joanna. 2019. Polysemy and cognitive linguistics. The case of vána. Lingua Posnaniensis 61 (2), 61-72.
Littlemore, J. 2017. Metonymy. In B. Dancygier (ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics, 407-422.
Cambridge: Cambridge.
LIV² = Rix, H. et al. 2001. Lexikon der Indogermanischen Verben: Die Wurzeln und ihre Primärstamm- bildungen.
Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag.
LSJ = Liddell, H. G., Scott, R., & Jones, H. S. (eds.). (1961 [1940]). A Greek-English Lexicon (9th ed.). Oxford:
Clarendon Press.
Neri, Sergio. 2017. Wetter. Etymologie und Lautgesetz. Università degli Studi di Perugia.
Nussbaum, Alan J. 2014. ‘Feminine, Abstract, Collective, Neuter Plural: Some Remarks on each (Expanded
Handout).’ In Sergio Neri & Roland Schuhmann (eds.), Collective and Feminine in Indo-European from a
Diachronic and Typological Perspective, Leiden & Boston (MA): Brill, 273–306.
Radden, Günter & Zoltán Kövecses. 1999. ‘Towards a Theory of Metonymy.’ In Klaus-Uwe Panther & Günter
Radden (eds.), Metonymy in Language and Thought. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: Benjamins, 17-59.
Solmsen, Felix. 1909. Beiträge zur griechischen Wortforschung. Erster Teil. Strassburg: Trübner.

§8 Pictures

Picture 1: https://ausstellungen.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/akragas-projekt/items/show/13
Picture 2: http://chi-lyra.com/pdf/Hermes_Theol._Culto-libre.pdf